Breakdown of Es gibt hier einen Metzger.
ein
a, an (eine)
hier
here
es gibt
there is / there are
der Metzger
the butcher
Questions & Answers about Es gibt hier einen Metzger.
Literally translated, what does es gibt mean?
It literally means 'it gives', but in German, this is the fixed phrase for 'there is' or 'there are'. You use it whenever you want to say that something exists or is located somewhere.
Why is the word for 'a' spelled einen here instead of ein?
The phrase es gibt always forces the thing that exists into the accusative case (the direct object case). Because Metzger (butcher) is a masculine noun, the word for 'a' changes from the basic ein to the accusative form einen.
If I wanted to say 'There are butchers here' (plural), would es gibt change?
Could I start this sentence with Hier instead of Es?
Yes, you can! If you put Hier at the start of the sentence for emphasis, the verb must stay in the second position. That means es and gibt have to swap places, resulting in: Hier gibt es einen Metzger.
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